Looking to Lose a Few Pounds.

ExtraRadical

I am in high school right now. and i am a little overweight. Not to bad, and i still work out, not often, but i do. I am just looking for some tips on what i should be doing, and what i should be eating.

Right now, i weigh about 220 pounds. I'm looking to going down to about, somewhere in between, 190 and 200 pounds. Thats just for right now.

I have access to a gym.

I really need to work on my cardio, even though i dont like it. and im also looking for some basic workouts other people do.

Help me out please. If this goes well, i might stick with it and keep it going til i get to about 175. Then i'm going to start working more on muscle, and toning it to make it so i cant lift more.

Thanks.

ExtraRadical

Clutch

When I was looking for workout programs and tips I hung around the bodybuilding.com forums. Lots of journals to follow and see what other people are doing in their quest to lose weight/gain muscle. You could use a site like thedailyplate.com to track what you are actually eating each day and make sure you are within your caloric intake.

I can't give much advice on a diet but I hope I could help some.

GHoosdum

Clutch is right. Without tracking every single calorie that goes into your body, it's really difficult to be on any kind of fitness program, either to lose weight or to bulk up. Thedailyplate is a great free resource for doing the tracking. You just have to remember to be completely honest with yourself about everything you eat, no matter how little it is. A single piece of chocolate is fifty calories, but it's so small you might not think to count it. Pile in a few of those during the day and you've suddenly blown away your calorie cap by 10%. Calories you drink are just as dangerous.

I would also advise eliminating soft drinks and replacing them with water. There is a video on here that shows how drinking a single can of coke over and above your calorie recommendation every day for a year adds something like five pounds of pure fat to your body. Add that up over ten years and suddenly you're fifty pounds heavier.

primesuspect

heh

ardichoke

damnit... now pizza sounds REALLY good.

I'm never going to lose any weight ;_;

ExtraRadical

Thanks for all the tips. I'll check out thedailyplate.com

ha
Primesuspect. nice one.

the_technocrat

stop drinking soda.

get yourself a good no-sugar-added juice and sparkling water, mix as needed and pay $3 for about 3 liters of drink.

Use the saved cash for some running shoes.

Nomad

Log what you eat in a day and post it. Weight loss comes from what you eat, fitness is just a means to achieve it quicker.

mirage

I tend to think differently. IMHO, fitness is the goal, weight loss comes with it. Stop sitting, eating junk, and start moving. If you change your life style and mindset, your health and weight will follow your life style. Don't aim to improve just the looks, improve how you feel in your body. Instead of counting the calories, count the miles running or biking.

Nomad

mirage wrote:

I tend to think differently. IMHO, fitness is the goal, weight loss comes with it. Stop sitting, eating junk, and start moving. If you change your life style and mindset, your health and weight will follow your life style. Don't aim to improve just the looks, improve how you feel in your body. Instead of counting the calories, count the miles running or biking.

I really disagree.

Unless he says how many calories he's eating and where from, I can't help. I can suggest food that would be better and exercise, but if he just switches over from consuming 6000 calories of junk to 6000 calories of chicken breasts, he'll lose no weight.

ExtraRadical

Well i have somewhat of a plan.

I am going to stop drinking all types of soda on June 11.

Also I am going to work out. No duh.

Another thing is i am going to eat smaller meals, and spread it out into 5 or 6 meals.
Eating lots of protein and meats.

Well, i was going to start eating chicken daily, but i heard that dry tuna would be better? is that true?

Thrax

Chicken is better. It's just as lean, but you won't die of mercury poisoning. Win/win, imo.

ExtraRadical

Haha. Well, which, iyo, is more expensive, because i have to stay on a somewhat small budget.

Thrax

Boneless/skinless chicken breast is something like 4-5 pounds for $10. You can't match that with tuna and, even if you could, it would actually be dangerous to eat that much tuna every day. Mercury levels are a real and serious concern with tuna.

ExtraRadical

well. id eat 8oz of chicken at 5:00pm everyday, as my main meal everyday. and one other person in my family is also doing this with me.
So what is the price of tuna?

Thrax

It really varies by location. You should go take a look at the grocery store in your area.

ExtraRadical

Whoop! Thanks.

mirage

Nomad wrote:

I really disagree.

Unless he says how many calories he's eating and where from, I can't help. I can suggest food that would be better and exercise, but if he just switches over from consuming 6000 calories of junk to 6000 calories of chicken breasts, he'll lose no weight.

If there is no metabolic health problem, the weight is the outcome of the balance between eating habits and life style. Loosing weight by just diet is not practical without increasing the physical activity. I have seen enough people regaining their weights after a strict diet since they did not alter their life styles. Not so easy but even if a person can be that disciplined to count every calorie in their diet, there are too many social occasions that can destroy that effort. There must be a way to compensate such fluctuations. I just ride more when I feel guilty because of my favorites BigMac or chips-salsa and beer. This calorie counting game is counter productive, did not ever work for me and many others I know.

ZenMode

mirage wrote:

If there is no metabolic health problem, the weight is the outcome of the balance between eating habits and life style. Loosing weight by just diet is not practical without increasing the physical activity. I have seen enough people regaining their weights after a strict diet since they did not alter their life styles. Not so easy but even if a person can be that disciplined to count every calorie in their diet, there are too many social occasions that can destroy that effort. There must be a way to compensate such fluctuations. I just ride more when I feel guilty because of my favorites BigMac or chips-salsa and beer. This calorie counting game is counter productive, did not ever work for me and many others I know.

Calorie counting never works. Eating a consistent number of calories/carbs/fat/protein does.

The trick is to calculate it out once, and then just try to be reasonable when you eat outside of it (no more than 3-4 meals per week that are outside of the regimen).

I've never met someone that has had success with trying to track every calorie they put in their mouth, but saving your brain power and just repeating the same meals on normal days is very easy and simple to follow.

Someone told me about a recent study that said people that eat the same thing every day tend to be healthier and in much better shape - its not surprising news to hear.

MAGIC

ExtraRadical wrote:

Well i have somewhat of a plan.

I am going to stop drinking all types of soda on June 11.

Also I am going to work out. No duh.

Another thing is i am going to eat smaller meals, and spread it out into 5 or 6 meals.
Eating lots of protein and meats.

Well, i was going to start eating chicken daily, but i heard that dry tuna would be better? is that true?

Why not stop drinking soda now? Thats the easiest first step there is to weight loss. I wouldnt be suprised if you drop 10 lbs just form replacing HFCS drinks with water.

GnomeQueen

mirage wrote:

If there is no metabolic health problem, the weight is the outcome of the balance between eating habits and life style. Loosing weight by just diet is not practical without increasing the physical activity. I have seen enough people regaining their weights after a strict diet since they did not alter their life styles. Not so easy but even if a person can be that disciplined to count every calorie in their diet, there are too many social occasions that can destroy that effort. There must be a way to compensate such fluctuations. I just ride more when I feel guilty because of my favorites BigMac or chips-salsa and beer. This calorie counting game is counter productive, did not ever work for me and many others I know.

I started working out a ton a few years ago. I went to the gym faithfully five days a week, and I did cardio as well as weightlifting. I worked really hard, and I was sure that I would lose weight. After 6 weeks I had seen no change, either in my weight or appearance. The reason? I was still eating way too much, and did not realize it. It wasn't until I started keeping track of my calories that I realized how much I was really eating, and that's when I started losing weight.

I would wager that most people eat more than they think they do, and don't realize this until they start keeping track of their calories. Like Steve said, this doesn't have to be an everyday affair if you don't vary your diet too much. I eat similar foods most days, so unless I've eaten something different, I don't have to put in the calories to know that I'm doing alright.

Counting calories can be really annoying, but it's probably the best way to lose weight. The other alternatives include programs such as Weight Watchers, which work in a similar way to counting calories, it's just cruder in that they assume that what you're eating falls into certain parameters for that food, and they assign you points therein.

As far as your friends that had issues with losing weight and not keeping it off because of strict diets- I'd bet that they were on super restrictive diets that people can't maintain for long periods of time. You're right, diets like that aren't good. But that's an issue independent of working out or not or keeping track of your food- it's an issue of doing something that's too strict and isn't sustainable. If you do a less strict diet- and avoid those nutty fad diets- you have a much better chance of losing weight and keeping it off. For example, I tried the South Beach Diet, which has you avoid carbs. It's really stupid, and I couldn't maintain it because cutting a major food group out of your diet almost entirely is insane. I can maintain my diet now because it just requires me to eat healthy and not overeat.

Thrax

If calorie counting didn't work for you, there are only two options as to why:
1) You can't count.
2) Your activities pushed your daily caloric burn to a level that induces starvation mode, which leads to a metabolic stall.

Weight loss is a simple matter of clean calories in vs. clean calories out up to the limit dictated by your age, weight, gender and current body fat composition.

MAGIC

Blah blah blah. Do wind sprints until you puke every day = weight loss.

GnomeQueen

MAGIC wrote:

Blah blah blah. Do wind sprints until you puke every day = weight loss.

No bro, you need more push-ups. Hundreds and hundreds of push-ups. You can't lose weight until you do at least 100 a day. 367 push-ups a day is best, really, but most people have to work up to that. Then you can all get your tickets to the gun show. *Flexes*

ZenMode

Gnome Queen wrote:

No bro, you need more push-ups. Hundreds and hundreds of push-ups. You can't lose weight until you do at least 100 a day. 367 push-ups a day is best, really, but most people have to work up to that. Then you can all get your tickets to the gun show. *Flexes*

Let us not forget to do 1000 crunches, gotta get that six pack brah!

GnomeQueen

ZenMode wrote:

Let us not forget to do 1000 crunches, gotta get that six pack brah!

Then you have to do squats, but remember, you need to use a belt if you're doing over 35 pounds.

ZenMode

Gnome Queen wrote:

Then you have to do squats, but remember, you need to use a belt if you're doing over 35 pounds.

No no - never train legs, wear jeans at the beach.

GnomeQueen

ZenMode wrote:

No no - never train legs, wear jeans at the beach.

And then eat twenty spread out meals a day. One peanut, two peanuts.

BobbyDigi

ExtraRadical, ignore the last 6 posts, take everything above that as gospel.

Calculate your suggested caloric intake as Thrax pointed out and stick to it. You will start losing weight without even working out.

-Bobby

mirage

Gnome Queen. I think your exercise was not sufficient. My experience is that exercise in the limited space of a gym is not as effective as running 10 miles or biking 40 miles for burning the calories. You might just end up with better muscles in the gym without any weight loss. You are also right that while doing exercise, one has to start controlling the eating habits. All I am saying is that losing weight is not practical without exercise. Of course weight loss is possible with controlled diet, but I can not sustain so much restriction on my diet too long.

mirage

Thrax wrote:

If calorie counting didn't work for you, there are only two options as to why:
1) You can't count.
2) Your activities pushed your daily caloric burn to a level that induces starvation mode, which leads to a metabolic stall.

Weight loss is a simple matter of clean calories in vs. clean calories out up to the limit dictated by your age, weight, gender and current body fat composition.

You are right. I can't count or don't like counting. Otherwise, as I said, calorie counting works, as long as you keep counting. I just came from a 20 mile ride (really, I will take my shower after this post). I think I deserved a beer with my chips and salsa